The Profit Pillars Show by Evolved Finance

I'm getting down to brass tacks this week. We're already into December, which means a new year is around the corner. And with the end of the old year, tax season is just around the corner. As we step into 2020, NOW is the time to start prepping for your 2019 taxes. For this episode, I wanted to urge everyone listening to take action on their tax prep NOW: Why you should be reaching out to your cur...

It's getting close to the end of the year, which means business owners across the country are freaking out about their tax bills.  When it comes to taxes, there is a misconception in the entrepreneur community that you should spend a bunch of money at the end of the year to reduce your tax bill. That somehow getting a bunch of new stuff you don't need is better because you're maximizing your deduc...

Bookkeepers for entrepreneurs are a lot like mechanics for people that don't know anything about cars.  As a car owner, you trust that your mechanic is doing the work they say they're doing because you don't really have an easy way to double-check it. Bookkeeping is ultimately pretty similar. Your bookkeeper tells you they've done the work each month, but you don't know if it's been done properly...

Starting a business has some inherent risks that I think most entrepreneurs are aware of.  You risk investing your own money in a business that doesn't end up making a profit. With online businesses, the initial investment to get them off the ground is so low, that the financial loss of a failed business isn't that ground shaking. Especially when you compare it to the capital needed to open restau...

There is something about finance and money that makes entrepreneurs feel like they're never doing enough. It's the same feeling they get when they don't feel like they're working out enough or haven't been eating as healthy as they would like to. Often, these feelings can get so overwhelming that it feels like you're better off doing nothing than risking the chance you'll get bad news. But it's im...

I don't know how to say this gently, so I'm just going to say it. Very few accountants are good at bookkeeping.  I share this because many entrepreneurs believe that it would make sense to have the person filing their taxes also be the person that's managing their bookkeeping.  This arrangement would seem both convenient and logical, right? Unfortunately for online entrepreneurs, they usually end...

We're in a unique position at Evolved Finance. We get to see behind the scenes of some of the most successful online businesses in the industry. After years of serving online entrepreneurs with their bookkeeping, it's almost inevitable that we've started to see patterns in not just our client's numbers, but also in the decisions they make in their businesses. While all our clients have reached a l...

As human beings, our relationships with money can be diverse and complicated, particularly for those of us raised and working in the US. Regardless of your outlook on money, materialism, consumerism, etc, it's still important to understand what a healthy relationship with money looks like for you. This is one of those cases where what you don't know can hurt you. The only thing worse than not know...

We've been in the fortunate position to see a lot of online businesses go from moderate success to massive success in less than a year.  In fact, most of our new clients see their businesses grow after the first 12 months of working with us, so we've come to expect some sort of growth for all our clients each year, even if it's just a little bit. The one thing that is not guaranteed with a growing...

In last week's episode, we began our discussion around what it takes to invest in the long-term success of an online business. In today's episode, we dive deeper into the strategies and actions we've seen our clients embrace to build businesses that will be thriving years from now. Models have changed from even a few years ago, and it's not just about making a quick buck but building something sus...

Running a business online is still a relatively new frontier. It feels like only 10-15 years ago, people were still uncomfortable typing in their credit card info to buy a used book on Amazon. Consumers have come a long way when it comes to being comfortable doing business online, but we still see many entrepreneurs operating like they're trying to make a quick buck and cash out instead of aiming...

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is one of the most important leadership positions in an organization. But are they really necessary for most online businesses? A CFO, with the help of their finance team, is ultimately responsible for tracking, organizing, reporting, and analyzing all the financial data in a company. A business is only as successful as its profit and loss statement, and when you'...

The decision to go into business with another person is a HUGE one. Mainly because there is so much you must consider when it comes to bringing on a business partner. When I hear other entrepreneurs talk about business partners, they usually recommend staying solo–and to be honest, I don't blame them. Being a solo-preneur is just easier in a lot of ways. My own experience at Evolved Finance, howev...

For most business owners, finance might as well be a four-letter word. It can definitely be scary to get a handle on your numbers—after all, what you don't know can't hurt you. The problem is that running your business without knowing what's going on financially is a little like driving a car with cardboard taped over the dashboard. Sure you can do it for a while, but how will you know if you're r...

It's incredibly difficult to find good bookkeeping in an online business. We've onboarded 125-150 online businesses over the years and this generally rings true: if a new client signs up to work with Evolved Finance and they had a previous bookkeeper, the books are going to be a hot mess over 90% of the time. Bookkeepers don't need any special certification; they don't have to follow any standardi...

Cash Flow is an often overused financial term, but most online entrepreneurs aren't exactly sure what it means for their own businesses. The most important thing to know is that it's the lifeblood of any successful business—mainly because it's not only related to the profitability of your business, but also to the timing in which money goes into and out of your business. For larger organizations,...

Last week, we had our first group call for our bookkeeping clients at Evolved Finance. It was so exciting to have a handful of our clients together on a call talking about the financial sides of their businesses. This got me thinking about how important it is to have an entrepreneur community you can connect with and learn from. So in this episode, I discuss Why the majority of our clients are in...

Debt can be a tricky topic when it's regarding business. In startups and corporations, debt can be a tool for jumping on opportunities that demand extra cash the business doesn't have on hand. In certain types of small business, a line of credit might be necessary to manage the ups and downs of monthly cash flow. For online businesses, debt is rarely needed though. That doesn't stop many online en...

There was a time about 4-5 years ago when 95% of our clients hired contractors exclusively for their businesses. A lot has changed since then. Much to our satisfaction, we're seeing online business owners hire full time and part time employees more than ever before. ..and for good reason!   That's why in this episode, we cover:   Why contractors are still important but only for certain positions H...

Once most online businesses hit $100k-$200k a year, they start to get very interested in evergreen funnel strategies due to the grind of constantly having to launch and promote their offers. If you've never heard of an evergreen funnel before, it's essentially using paid traffic and software automation to drive sales on a daily basis. On the flip side, launches are more manual and happen less ofte...

If your online business doesn't deliver results for your customers, you're probably going to have a difficult time continuing to get new customers. It doesn't matter if you sell digital products or services — your offer has to deliver the goods. Over the last couple years, we've seen our clients at Evolved Finance double down on making sure their products and services provide an experience that gi...

Profit and predictability are extremely important for online businesses once they start generating consistent revenue. But how does finance play into it and why should you care? In this episode, we cover: Why online entrepreneurs get confused about what profit actually is What profit means for your personal wealth How to track your profitability How your past financial data can make your business...

The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance is back! We know it's been a while, but a lot's happened since October for 2018. In this episode we discuss what we've been up to, why we took a break from the podcast, and what are plans for the show's future.

Most entrepreneurs have the perception that finance must be complicated and confusing. We're here to tell you it doesn't. Whether your online business is brand new or you've been in business for years, you will benefit by keeping things simple and clean. We share more about how to accomplish this in this episode.

Startups and online lifestyle businesses are two very different things. Even if your business is still in its infancy, getting clear on how big a business like yours can get is important for understanding how much of a financial and time investment it will take to get your business to its maximum potential. Not everyone can be Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, but that doesn't mean you can't make a lot of...